This was just posted by Captain Joe 'King Cod' and which should give you an idea on what was literally a dog and pony show put on by Jim Gilmore tonight....

May 8th. NYSDEC Meeting on Black Sea Bass... Taking the Sheep to Slaughter.

Where to start...The slaughter began with the DEC moving the meeting to 5PM.

As the clock approached the witching hour, we had quite a pathetic crowd assembled of about 25 or so people. As we sat down, the gavel was already banging to bring the meeting to order right on time. As people were trickling in, a rapid fire presentation began on the appeal.

We were told the regulations posted below would be implemented, and that the DEC worked hard on our behalf for this compromise. We were told that there were a "few" angry people in the room, but that many, many others who did not show up, were quite satisfied with the work that the DEC had done on our behalf.

At about 5:20, they began taking comments from the MRAC council, and the public. We were told that it would be limited to just a few.

Some high (low) lights....

Council member Steve Whittune asked how we lost the ASMFC vote designating quota allocation by a margin of 6-4, when there are actually 12 states in the management plan. The two that didn't vote being Maine, & New Hampshire in the Northern region. As far as I could tell there was no clear answer on that. Jim Gilmore did state that they helped us with the appeal. To that I say BIG DEAL...

I stated that despite what they are telling us, this is in fact yet another reduction. That in fact it's a 33% reduction in Nov, & Dec. As they tried to cut me off (numerous times), I also stated instead of giving us a fake increase, everyone in the room would have been much happier with just leaving the regs status-quo to last year. I also addressed the parody issue in wave 6 where you will have boats from different states fishing side by side with extreme differences in their regs. As a parting gift I was also able to get in one more question: Where did these "extra" fish come from that they used to offset the 12% reduction, and acording to them give us a 3.75% increase for the region (2% in the state of NY)? That's a 15.75% increase to what was originally propose.... Sadly the tap dance began, and I have no answers for you.

Capt. Jamie Quaresimo call it another reduction, and said this will destroy his fall business.

Capt. Rich Jensen questioned how CT came out ahead of us again, and stated that they seem to be doing a better job fighting for their for hire industry. Sector separation was brought up, and Jim Gilmore didn't seem to like that idea. After some back and forth he said it could be looked at.

Mark Cusumano asked if the DEC actually understands what impact these regs will have on the people in the for-hire industry.

Comments were rushed to be wrapped up, at about 5:40 with people such as Ec Newell Man, who had a 3 hour drive from Brooklyn, Capt. Thomas Weiss from Point Lookout, and Congressman Lee Zeldin's rep Mark Woolly just walking in.

At this point Jim Gilmore announced that the meeting would be moving on to cod, squid, etc. I had to interrupt, and ask if we were done with BSB? People just sitting down...no mention of options, out of compliance or a statement allowed from the congressmans's office?

At at this point many stood up to walk out of the meeting. Mark Woolley at this point did manage to read a statement from Lee Zeldin, that trashed the compromise, and the effort put forth by the DEC.

Mr. Gilmore fired back with a letter PRAISING HIS EFFORTS from the Captree Boatmans Association.

The post mortem after the May MRAC meeting is the realization that there is little left for the NY for-hire industry to do other than to have Jim Gilmore removed as the Director, but that will never happen and his smug face and pompous behavior will be with us until he retires. There is little hope that petitioning the governor and the GARFO Regional Administrator for further intervention, so ALL OF US have to seethe until the MAFMC meetings where the regulatory changes are made and specifications are set for the following season.

On the NYS level, it is obvious that J.G .has a noticeable rap sheet of transgressions in the way he goes about conducting himself at meetings, his lack of candor and his continual statements of and "thanking himself" which should be left to the stakeholders and fishermen who have to deal with the regulations for the season. It is also very obvious that we do not see such a prolonged period of such contentious interaction between fishermen with their state regulatory body as we do here in NYS.

There will be greater angst in the very near future from the ramifications of and on the MRIP re-calibration coming this July as well as the news arising from the striped bass and summer flounder benchmarks and BSB survey update results which will be coming at the end of this year and full well known by the 2019 February MAMFC meeting...and this is just a start as there are the serious implications from the Modern Fishing Act "if it becomes" the federal fishing law of this country.

If I can recommend, at this point to get in touch with those who are on the Advisory Panels as their is a Joint Meeting of the MAFMC & ASMFC coming up at the end of June near Baltimore, MD. Most of us can repeat the issues and problems verbatim here in social media, but spend a few moments and get in contact with these individuals so that they can address them at the A.P. There is no doubt that fishery management is bogging down in the morass of statistically-manipulated complexity, questionable data streams on effort, catch and harvest inputs and the resulting regulatory instability which few of us have a grasp of. We truly need those who do sit at the regulatory table to not only be competent, but fight for the best interests of the fishermen in the state they represent. As much, we have to continue to have both our state and federal politicians involved, as they can be the biggest movers and shakers within the fishery management process.

In closing, you have realize proverbially speaking, the fish-crats own the science and set the rules, and there is little more than we can do other than to continue writing our public comments, attend meetings and hopefully have a few politicians intervene in these critical fishing issues. This is the reality, and as I was told by one of the people here and a line I often repeat, "where were you 25 years ago when you could have made more of a difference....."